A must to see! Phototeam.Pro led by Vitya Lyagushkin at work in the most extreme conditions together with Natalie Avseenko swimming naked with belugas in water at minus 2 degrees Centirade!! This post includes the fascinating movie with the making of.

While I'm happy to admit the girl is extremely tough and daring to get into water that cold without a drysuit, I find this place abhorent. Those beluga whales are captive animals. There was a spate of underwater photographers going to this place and taking similar pictures (not naked) a couple of years back, not long after I'd seen wild beluga whales in Churchill Manitoba. These captive animals are in a prison and there is no need for them to be. Yes there is ice and snow, but would anyone be making oooh and ah noises and saying how wonderful the pictures where if it was dolphins in a dolphinarium? I hope not.

As photographers we are constantly reminded not to touch coral or damage marine life just for a picture. Well this is the same thing. Just becase we can put beluga whales into captivity and have naked women swim with them for a picture, doesn't mean we should. Belugas, like all cetaceans should be in the wild. There are plenty of places to see and swim with wild dolphins and whales on their terms. So if you want to photograph belugas do it in the wild. If you want a naked woman with them Photoshop her in and stop tormenting these beautiful animals.